FORT DODGE- The Iowa Dept. of Corrections reports that on June 14th, 59-year old Thomas Andrew Daleske, an inmate at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility (FDCF) was found deceased in his cell at approximately 5:15-p.m.  Daleske was serving a 45-year sentence for multiple charges related to Sexual Abuse and Lascivious Acts with a Child from Warren County and had been incarcerated since October 31, 2000.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation assisted the FDCF and Webster County Medical Examiner with the death investigation and determined that another inmate, 44-year old Eric Hall, had been inside Daleske’s cell shortly before the body was discovered.  Hall was interviewed and admitted to killing Daleske.  The Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and determined the cause of Daleske’s death to be strangulation with blunt force injuries to the head and ruled the death a homicide.

On Tuesday, June 23rd (Today), Eric Hall was charged with 1st Degree Murder in Webster County. He remains in custody at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two organizations filed a lawsuit that seeks to stop a 24-hour waiting period for abortions that was approved by Iowa lawmakers in the closing hours of the legislative session. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and a doctor represented by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed the suit Tuesday in state court. The suit seeks to block the measure and to impose a temporary injunction to stop it from taking effect July 1.

The groups filing the suit expect the bill to be signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is an outspoken opponent of abortion rights. The waiting period was approved on the last day of a shortened legislative session.

COUNCIL BLUFFS—Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources reports the city of Council Bluffs requested permission to release untreated wastewater to the Missouri River after discovering problems with a sewer line this (Tuesday) morning.

The DNR granted approval to discharge 125,000 to 200,000 gallons of untreated wastewater to enable the city to inspect a potentially collapsed sewage pipe near 32^nd Street and 12^th Avenue.

Starting at 8 a.m., the city bypassed 68,510 gallons from the sanitary sewer to the storm sewer, before ending the discharge at 9:25 a.m. The storm sewer discharges to the Missouri River near Dodge Park. The city collected water samples from the discharge and from the river (upstream and downstream) for testing.

The DNR encourages residents to keep children and pets away from the Missouri River downstream of the Dodge Park stormwater pump station for the next 24 to 48 hours.

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County today (Tuesday), said 37-year old Mark Charles Pontefract, of Pacific Junction, was arrested at around 4:45-a.m. today (Tuesday), for Domestic Abuse Assault. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail. On Monday, 39-year old Maurice Tabiya Harris, of Sioux City, was arrested for Driving While Revoked (bond $1,000), and 20-year old Humberto Felipe Mancinas, of Sidney, was arrested for OWI/1st offense (Bond $1,000).

Authorities in Shelby County are looking for a stolen vehicle. According to reports, at around 9-p.m. Monday, Harlan Police were called to the Dollar General Store, with regard to a stolen car incident.  When the officer arrived, he met with 29 year old Ryan Henrich, an employee at Dollar General.  Henrich said that he had arrived at work at about 2-p.m. Monday, and hadn’t been out of the store all day.  He discovered his car was missing when he left the store Monday evening. The keys had been left inside. The car was described as a 2008 Chevy Impala, with Iowa license plate CIM 565. The vehicle has some driver’s side damage and a broken tail light.

There are no suspects at this time, and the case remains under investigation.

Officials with the Harlan Police Department report two arrests took place last week. On Friday, 27-year old Kristofer Allan Erlbacher, of Woodbine, was arrested following a traffic stop. Erlbacher was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with operating while intoxicated, no proof of insurance, and careless driving. And, last Thursday, 20-year old Brandon Jay Benedict, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop. Benedict was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with driving while revoked and failure to obey stop sign.

(Radio Iowa) — Protesters in Washington D-C tried unsuccessfully last (Monday) night to topple a statue near the White House of Andrew Jackson. The seventh president who founded the Democratic Party was a soldier, a statesman — and a slaveholder. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley gave a floor speech earlier Monday saying, “Slavery is a great stain on our country’s history,” but he says the past can’t be changed.  “I don’t know what it accomplishes to try to destroy evidence of our history,” Grassley says. “Do you then start going through all of the history books and rewrite the history books?”

Grassley, a Republican, was co-sponsor of legislation that authorized the establishment of a National Liberty Memorial on the National Mall to honor the underappreciated contributions of black Revolutionary War patriots. Despite the “lingering legacy of slavery,” Grassley said in his floor speech, the “promise of liberty and equality is the shared heritage of all Americans from the founding generation to today.” “I don’t find any fault with peaceful demonstrations. I don’t find any fault with people condemning people throughout history that they don’t like,” Grassley says. “I think it’s very important that we be sensitive towards their views but I think they ought to be sensitive towards the history of the United States.”

During last night’s demonstration, authorities were able to stop the destruction of the statue of Jackson, depicting him on horseback. The 15-ton statue was dedicated in 1853 in Lafayette Square, just north of the White House.  “A lot of things here in Washington are federal property. I’ll let states decide what they want to do, cities decide what they want to do,” Grassley says, “but I don’t really quite understand people wanting to ignore history or write history or change history, because I don’t think it ends with tearing statues down.”

Grassley notes that one of the black patriots honored at the National Liberty Memorial is claimed by Iowa. Cato Mead, who was born in Connecticut and is listed in Revolutionary War pension court records as a “free person of color,” lived out his twilight years in southeastern Iowa. He’s buried in the Montrose Cemetery, in Montrose.